CD Reviews

Under-rated Bop Session

earl rlabaci | 02/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What makes this an interesting disc is the contrast between Coltrane and sulieman, two post-bop era players with plenty of fire, and Jaspar and Young, two players more oriented in the cool miles davis school. I think Prestige was trying to get a different mix of players in their studio and that's why these spontaneously thrown together jam sessions were created. The Horns are backed by a classic rhythmn section of Mal Waldron(Piano), Kenny Burrell (Guitar) Paul chambers(bass), and Art Taylor(Drums). All of the tunes are originals by Waldron except for the bonus track "CTA" by Jimmy Heath which came from a quartet session in leadership of pianist Red Garland. The title tune, "Interplay", is based on the Chord Changes of "I Got Rhythmn" and the line-up is Suliemen-Coltrane-Young-Jaspar, they repeat this order three times. I, being a guitar player, am not too fond of Kenny burrell but I have to admit that He whips out some fine lines on this album. "Anatomy" is also based on the chords of another popular standard "All the Things You Are." "Light blue" is a Blues and for the first 5 or 6 choruses, the rhythmn sections gets into a groove before the horns come in with the theme. "Soul eyes" is over 17 minutes long and is the only drawback on the album. "CTA" done by a quartet of Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor, is a swift moving, hot tempered cooker and Coltrane blows a fine solo as does Garland."

Another Prestige jam session...

kkase | St. Louis, MO USA | 11/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This disc contains some fine performances from John Coltrane, Idrees Sulieman, Bobby Jaspar and Kenny Burrell, although the format was very typical of an off-the-cuff jam session so common to Prestige in the fifties. Like Gene Ammons' "The Happy Blues", this was a thrown-together session full of jams on blues and the changes of familiar standards with new melodies ("Anatomy" is really "All the Things You Are", for example). While the Ammons date is a good example of spontaneous inspiration, "Interplay" misses the mark somewhat. Pain ensues when one is confronted with the ballad "Soul Eyes" which clocks in at a whopping 17:29. Pity that the four horns are woefully out of tune with each other for the head because some of the solos are quite nice. Producer and Prestige owner Bob Weinstock wasn't always a stickler for quality control and this track is a fine example. Years later, Coltrane would cut a much better and considerably shorter version for Impulse! For completists, it's a piece of history. For casual fans, you can give this one a miss."